General Zorawar Singh

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Zorawar Singh (1786-1841) , born in to the house of a Hindu Ranghar Rajput (chandel) family of Kashmir, was a military general who conquered Ladakh and Baltistan in the Sikh times and carried the Khalsa flag as far as the interior of Tibet. About Zorawar Singh's place of Birth authorities differ, Major G. Carmichael Smyth, in his account of the reigning family of Lahore, says that he was a native of Kussal near Riasi, now Jammu and Kashmir state. Hutchison and Vogel have recorded that he was native of Kahlur (Bilaspur) state, now in Himachal Pradesh. A modern writer Narsing Das Nargis, on the basis of information supplied to him by a great grandson of Zorawar Singh, states in his book Zorawar Singh that he was born in a Rajput family around the year 1786 in the village of Ansora, in Kangra district. It is stated that when 16, Zorawar Singh killed his cousin in a dispute over property and escaped to Haridvar, where he met Rana Jasvant Singh, who took him to Galihan, now known as Doda, near Jammu, and trained him as a soldier. He joined service under Gulab Singh Dogra who after the Anglo-Sikh wars was able to Purchase Jammu and Kashmir from the British and became the Maharaja and founder of the kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir. Main reason for not knowing the exact background and origin of the family of General Zorawar Singh is this, that he was Hindu Ranghar Rajput, further they were known as Ranghreta or Rangreta sikh in Sikhism. Rana Rao Bhatti fought muslim invaders. But got deafeat because of inferior weapons. Invaders got shocked and impressed from the fighting and bravery potential of Rana Rao Bhatti's army, they gave offer of their daughter to Rana Rao Bhatti, and he accepted it. He got married with muslim girls of invaders and adopted islam. Some of leaders boycott Rana Rao Bhatti for this action and feel shamed of Rana Rao's action, and started protest against him. To clear this, Muslims offer their girls for making relations with them and gave condition that, they do not need to change or adopt Islam for marriage, they accept this offer for peace and their offspring's were called Hindu Ranghar Rajputs, and further brahmins boycotted them for intermarriage, and stopped their commercial and livelihood activities and use to call them Ranghrete or Ranghretrde. Then their further children's are called as Ranghreta. According to Hinduism they were known as Hindu Ranghar Rajput and in Sikhism they were called Ranghreta Sikh. That's the main reason, General Zorawar Singh is called Rangreta Sikh in Sikhism and Hindu Ranghar Rajput in Hinduism. The said reality is that nobody want to tell the truth of Hindu Ranghar Rajputs. That's why all mess and confusion is created. This all information is approved by Gyani Mandeep Singh Vidyarthi Ji ( Nihaang Singh ) DASHMESH TARNA DAL, COL. SATISH SINGH LALOTRA[1].

Reality of Background

General Zorawar Singh background is manipulated by some purloiner, charlatan and falsifier peoples for their own benefit and fame. The reality is that General Zorawar Singh had three wives, but unfortunately he had no son and offspring.‘ General Zorawar singh had no son to perpetuate his line. He had three wives. The first one was from Langeh Rajput house of Ambgarotha village in Jammu, who died at an early age. The second and third wives were real sisters belonging to a Rajput family of Gai village near Pauni-Pahrakh. The third para of the same page says in so many words that the elder wife  Lajwanti changed her mind of committing sati ,but the younger Asha Devi unable to withstand the pangs of separation immolated herself holding the turban of her husband in her lap. Moreover in the same page the author mentions specifically that Maharaja Gulab singh sent his eldest son Udhamsingh to dissuade the wives of General Zorawar singh from self-immolation. If the facts as mentioned in the famous book by Dr SDS Charak are true then from where did the present descendants of the brave Dogra warrior come from?

2.His purported date of birth which has been interpreted as being 13th April  1784 contrary to the official version in the ‘Gaulabnama’ written by DiwanKirpa Ram as also in the seminal book by Dr SDS Charak going by the name ‘General Zorawarsingh’. The former being the official biography of the employer (read Maharaja Gulabsingh) of General Zorawarsingh  and the latter being the official version as adopted by the ministry of information and broadcasting Government of  India way back in 1983 . Both of these versions depict the birth month and year as September 1784 that stands trial to the testimony of various time lines of that period and are true. Will the official biographer of Maharaja have the temerity to fudge the dates of birth of one of the greatest Generals under the Maharaja’s command? In the similar vein will the ministry of information and broadcasting, GOI peddle the book of Dr SDS Charak as an extension of official version and lend its stamp of approval ?

The exact lineage of General Zorawarsingh which has bred a lot of distortions leading to a web of confusions that spreads even to this day and time.  The primacy of facts and figures as given in the official version by DiwanKirpaRam  in his biography ‘Gulabnama’ pertaining to Maharaja Gulab singh written in 1876 AD vis-à-vis the revenue records of the family of General Zorawar singh as made available to in the ancestral village of ‘Ansar’in district Hamirpur of HP as also in village Bijaypur of district Riasi in jammu and Kashmir where the family later shifted to. The revenue records of the villages show the discrepancy in the lineage and the direct line to Zorawarsingh and further down the genealogical order.

The names of the immediate family members in the genealogical order as found in the land records (revenue) of the said General both at village ‘Ansar’ in HP and in Bijaypur of district Riasi of Jammu and Kashmir record the same details. The revenue records of village Ansar depicts Tejasingh and Chatarsingh sons of Indersingh  again  son of Zorawarsinghas land holders of about 170 kanals of land.But when juxtaposed with the details of the family members as recorded in the biography of Maharaja Gulabsingh by DiwanKirpa Ram and also in the seminal book written by Dr SDS Charak and endorsed by the ministry of information and broadcasting ,GOI ,the direct lineage of General Zorawarsingh ends with him with none of his three wives having borne with his son. Nowhere does the name of Indersingh crop up as son of General Zorawarsingh.

As if the above was not enough, Gulabnama records in 3rd line para 2 of  page 254 as ‘WazirIndaraju’ brother of WazirZorawaru as  one of the Rajput warriors who got killed along with Raja Hirasingh and MianSohansingh and panditJalla while fleeing from Lahore with the booty of Sikh toshakhana. Do we take this WazirIndraju as Indersingh as son of General Zorawarsingh to give credence to the revenue records ? If yes ,then either the official record being endorsed via the book of Dr SDS Charakand also the Gulabnama stands nullified or the revenue records in urdu are fudged to make sure some family members are benefitted by this purported perfidy.

Main reason for not knowing the exact background and origin of the family of General Zorawar Singh is this, that he was Hindu Ranghar Rajput, further they were known as Ranghreta or Rangreta sikh in Sikhism.

Military Career

Gulab Singh employed Zorawar Singh mostly for defending the forts to the north of Jammu. For some time he also worked as an inspector in the commissariat of supplies where he did a commendable job by effecting a savings in the much-needed provisions about 1823. When Raja Gulab Singh, the feudatory chief of Jammu under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was appointed governor of Kishtvar, he appointed Zorawar Singh to administer the new district with the title of wazir. In Kishtvar, Zorawar Singh introduced fiscal and judicial reforms and had the old fort of the Kishtvari rulers renovated. From here he led several expeditions into Ladakh, the first one in the series in July 1834.

It was from here that the Dogras entered the JSuru valley. After fighting pitched battles at places such as Sanku, Langkartse, Kantse, Sot and Pashkarm, the invaders pushed on to Leh, the capital of Ladakh. The Ladakhi king, Tse-pal Namgyal, was made to pay a war indemnity. He also undertook to pay an annual tribute of Rs 20,000 and acknowledged the suzerainty of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Ladakhis, however, soon rose in revolt against their new masters and Zorawar Singh launched a second attack. This time he followed the short but difficult Kishtvar-Zanskar route. He quelled the rebellion, deposed the old king and appointed the king's prime minister and brother-in-law, Nagorub Stanzin, as the new ruler of Ladakh.

But Zorawar Singh had to make two more incursions before Ladakh was annexed to the Sikh kingdom in 1840. The same year, Zorawar Singh attacked Baltistan, a Muslim principality in the Indus valley, to the northwest of Kargil. He defeated the Baltis and deposed Ahmad Shah, whose eldest son, Muhammad Shah, was installed as the new king of Baltistan. Zorawar Singh next turned his attention towards western Tibet. The conquest of Tibet was an ambition he had harboured in his heart for some time and, as Sohan Lal Suri, the court chronicler of the Sikh times, records, this was the suggestion he proffered to Maharaja Ranjit Singh when he in March 1836 waited on him at the village of Jandiala Sher Khan to pay a nazarana. He told the Maharaja that he was ready to "kindle the fires of fighting" and "by the grace of ever triumphant glory of the Maharaja, he would take possession of it." The Maharaja, however, was not willing to allow him to undertake the adventure. Zorawar Singh had his chance in the time of Ranjit Singh's son and 2nd successor, Maharaja Sher Singh.

In April 1841, by which time the conquest of Ladakh had been completed, he marched into Tibet at the head of a large army and within six months had conquered territory to the northwest of the Mayyum Pass. But then a strong Tibetan army descended from Lhasa and confronted the invaders at Tirthapuri, near Lake Manasarovar. Zorawar Singh could get no reinforcements from Leh or from any other place as heavy snows had blocked all the passes. He fought many a pitched action in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar and was killed in the last one of these on 12 December 1841. Although this great conqueror perished mid-campaign, his initiative did not go unrewarded.

In September 1842 a treaty was signed by representatives of the Chinese and Lhasa governments on the one hand and of the Kalsa Darbar and Gulab Singh on the other which extended the Sikh, and hence Indian, frontiers to their present international boundary. The whole of Ladakh thus became a part of the Indian territories.

The treaty in English:

"As on this auspicious day, the 3nd of Assuj, samvat 1899 (16th/17th September 1842) we, the officers of the Lhasa (Governrnent), Kalon of Sokan and Bakshi Shajpuh, commander of the forces, and two officers on behalf of the most resplendent Sri Khalsa ji Sahib, the asylum of the world, King Sher Singh ji, and Sri Maharaja Sahib Raja-i-Rajagan Raja Sahib Bahadur Raja Gulab Singh, i.e.. the Muktar-ud-Daula Diwan Hari Chand and the asylum of vizirs, Vizir Ratnun. in a meeting called together for the promotion of peace and unity, and by professions and vows of friendship, unity and sincerity of heart and by taking oaths like those of Kunjak Sahib, have arranged and agreed that relations of peace, friendship and unity between Sri Khalsaji and Sri Maharaja Sahib Bahadur Raja Gulab Singh ji, and the Emperor of China and the Lama Guru of Lhasa will hence forward remain firmly established forever; and we declare in the presence of the Kunjak Sahib that on no account whatsoever will there be any deviation, difference of departure (from this agreement). We shall neither at present nor in the future have anything to do or interfere at all with the boundaries of Ladakh and its surroundings as fixed from ancient times and will allow the annual export of wool, shawls and tea by way of ladakh according to the old established customs.
Should any of the Opponents of Sri Sarkar Khalsa ji and Sri Raja Sahib Bahadur at any time enter our territories, we shall not pay any heed to his words or allow him to remain in our country. We shall offer no hindrance to traders of Ladakh who visit our territories. We shall not even to the extent of a hair's breadth act in contravention of the terms that we have agreed to above regarding firm friendship, unity, the fixed boundaries of Ladakh and the keeping open of the route for wool, shawls and tea. We call Kunjak Sahib, Kairi, Lassi, Zhon Mahan, and Khushal Chon as witnesses to this treaty."